Oh how this holiday season crept up on us this year! We Lucases like to stay busy throughout the year and that means sometimes it seems as we're looking down at a summer Saratoga racing form

three months go by and it's time to roast that holiday ham!

This year Corey was promoted from technical recruiter at his company to owner. Of course this came with a 500% increase in pay which finally gave us the opportunity to buy that seven bedroom house on the beach in Puerto Rico we've been eyeing for years. Spring in "the Puerto" as us locals call it ;) is absolutely magical.

He also picked up his hockey stick and laced up his skates for the first time in two decades for a little recreational fun in the Saratoga men's league. The NHL got wind of his reemergence and signed him to a three-year deal with the Canadians! Obviously, this is just a part-time job. His real passion is for web-based system development.

credit: same celly

Stacie has landedher first QVC special for her felted wool jewelry to air during this Christmas season. Actresses Angelina Jolie and Helen Mirren have even endorsed her natural alpaca line which is now selling so fast she has had to hire local teens

to do most of her felting. But although she has more work than time, she still manages to paint murals on

several of the city's graffiti covered buildings.

Oliver joined the Navy SEALs and is planning his first secret mission later in January.

Best wishesto all, except those work colleagues we don't like, for a happy and healthy New Year!

Monday, December 17, 2012

Like you can't find a way to say how you feel about what happened in Connecticut without diving into thoughts and feelings that are so painful because to really realize there is pure evil so close to home you have to go to a dark place where no one should have to go, especially this close to one of the best celebrations of an eternal perfect life.

Friday, December 14, 2012

A weirdo dog person; one who stops strangers to pet the iddy-biddy long haired chihuahuas they're carrying deep down inside their coats even if it means invading some serious personal space.

And I would expect the same if I had somehow managed to strap my 80 pound Golden somewhere onto my person.

Which I cannot.

I have tried.

Also as a dog person I allow myself to become as tiny as possible when I sleep so that my poor aging Oliver has room to stretch out on the bed when we retire for the evening. After a few minutes of wrestling for position and covers and then fighting off nose jabs to my face we end up like this:

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

First I would like to say I did not realize how close we are to Christmas, not that this adds any additional stress, I just can't believe every single year it's like BAM. Christmas is here.

Second, I got into a car accident last week and even though I'm fine I still want to talk about it.

And if we have time maybe we should start a dialogue on how I can transition better. Mmmkay.

So this accident. Yeah. Last Tuesday I found myself hanging out on a telephone guidewire after someone turning left from the opposite lane didn't see me coming. These things happen so fast.

It wasn't a very complicated accident: there was a break in one lane of traffic and she tried to rush a turn into my lane. I was right there so she hit me on my driver's side near my front wheel and pushed me right over the curb. I was still going forward so I ended up on the guidewire.

Guidewires have a little more give than solid wood telephone poles; it was a soft landing.

We both were fine, I mean aside from our stomachs being lodged in our throats.

Those crazy nerves.

Our cars, however....no. They were not fine.

Actually, I don't know what happened to her car. She seemed to have some fender damage but I didn't stick around to chat about it. I followed my car out on the tow truck.

It's funny how one second you can be driving along, singing your favorite Mariah Carey Christmas song, and then the next be sitting on the side of the road with your bumper clinging to life while you frantically dig through your glove compartment wondering why you didn't keep your registration and proof of insurance together so they'd be easier to find in the mess of fliers and napkins and receipts from your last four oil changes.

Fortunately, besides the obvious negative aspects of being in a car accident:

$6,000 in damages

horrible, horrible deductible to be paid six days before Christmas

slightly stiff neck

nervous that every car in the world is going to find a way to hit me

I have noticed a few positives:

surprise day off the next day!

Corey got my favorite pizza and two desserts!

all of the mechanisms on one of my front wheels will have to be completely replaced, which means there is a 50% chance the squeak I hear from up front when I make right turns will be gone!

I get new engine parts!

my rental car has new fancy technology that lets me lock, unlock, and start without taking the keys out of my purse!

The whole experience was a little traumatic, it was my first real accident (I don't include my sister backing into me in the driveway or my other sister's clueless co-worker bumping me and then trying to tell her dad it was my fault), but so far it hasn't been an entirely negative experience.

If this is how I respond to nearly totaling my car I wonder how I'll feel about colonoscopies....

Friday, December 7, 2012

Like how can I postpone Christmas a month. Just one month, maybe two. Three at the very most. This year I just need more time.

None of my shopping is done.

None of my shopping has even been started. So let's see what we can do about starting a campaign to prolong the Christmas season....yaaaaaay!

And in the spirit of giving, but mostly getting, here is my wish list to Santa. With your help and that of about a million of your friends he will have two extra months to scrounge together a pretty decent load:

1. Puppies

Srsly, I put this is at the top of my list every year. Someone will get the hint sooner or later.

2. Fleece lined leggings

I'm cold. Always.

3. Spatulas

We have nothing with which to flip our pancakes.

4. Purdue gear

A girl can never have enough memorabilia from the best school in. the. world.

5. 2013 Calendar

So I don't have to continue to use the Peru Central School calendar although it is helpful to know when it's taco salad day.

She wears pantyhose while decorating the Christmas tree for crying out loud. This is adorable. Do you know what I wore to decorate my tree? $5 Reebok stretchy pants that I got at Value City when I was seventeen. Oh, and a sweatshirt over the t-shirt I wore to bed the night before. Goodness gracious.

And is this not the most relaxing place to take a siesta? My photo of this scene would include rolling tumbledoghairs and a book on the history of pancakes. There would also be cheese and cracker crumbs scattered throughout the rug.

Oh that rug, I could fall asleep just looking at it.

Now, when I call this a love/hate relationship I have with Katie and her blog, I don't in any way mean that I hate anything about her. I love how her pictures inspire me to have a more simple life, and that having or doing less can be oh-so satisfying.

There really is no hate here, I should really label this a love/tears-hair-out-in-frustration relationship. I get frustrated at how not-simple having a simple life can be. My days are full of unfolded laundry, piles of wool and dog hair, sloppy pizza and cranky complainers.

Of which I have no pictures, you're welcome.

So until I'm able to reduce all my cares in the world to finding the best way to arrange fall foliage I will just have to learn to be satisfied with trimming my tree while wondering when I washed my hair last and relaxing with a book on my favorite breakfast food as my neighbor blasts club tunes.

Because I'm sure even Katie had to deal with moments of anxiety//road rage//stinky feet//less-than-perfectness before finding her groove, too.